Column of Honor: 04.11.09 Part Two: The English Middle Finger

Welcome back to the Column.

ROH Call

ROH Champions—As of 04/11/2009

ROH World Champion—Jerry Lynn (champion since 04/03/09, NEW CHAMPION, 2 successful defenses)

–defeated Nigel McGuinness in Houston, Texas via pinfall to win the championship.

Next Defense: vs. Roderick Strong, 04/24/09 in Dayton, OH

V.1 Four Corner Survival: defeated Bryan Danielson, D-Lo Brown and Erick Stevens (04/04/09, Houston, TX)
V.2 Four Corner Survival: defeated Bryan Danielson, Austin Aries and Jimmy Jacobs (04/10/09, Philadelphia, PA, airs June 6th, 2009)

Nigel McGuinness: Final List of Defenses

V.1 defeated Jay Briscoe, wristlock submission (10/21/07 San Francisco, CA)
V.2 defeated Chris Hero, wristlock submission (11/02/07 Philadelphia, PA)
V.3 defeated Austin Aries, Jawbreaker Lariat (12/29/07 Manhattan, NY)
V.4 defeated Go Shiozaki, London Dungeon (wristlock submission) (01/20/08 Tokyo, Japan,)
V.5 Steel Cage Match: defeated Chris Hero (01/25/08, Dayton, OH)
V.6 defeated Roderick Strong, Jawbreaker Lariat (01/26/08, Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.7 defeated Bryan Danielson, London Dungeon (02/23/08, Manhattan, NY)
V.8 defeated Tyler Black, London Dungeon (03/16/08, Philadelphia, PA)
V.9 defeated Larry Sweeney, Jawbreaker Lariat (03/22/08 Crystal River, FL)
V.10 defeated Austin Aries, Jawbreaker Lariat (03/29/08 Orlando, FL)
V.11 defeated Erick Stevens, London Dungeon (04/11/08 Boston, MA)
V.12 defeated Kevin Steen, roll up holding the ropes (04/12/08 Edison, NJ)
V.13 defeated Kevin Steen, Jawbreaker Lariat (04/19/08 Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.14 defeated Claudio Castagnoli, London Dungeon, (05/10/08, Manhattan, NY)
V.15 defeated KENTA and BJ Whitmer, Jawbreaker Lariat to Whitmer (05/15/08, Tokyo, Japan)
V.16 defeated Go Shiozaki, London Dungeon (06/07/08, Philadelphia, PA)
V.17 defeated Vic Viper, London Dungeon (06/14/08, Tallaght, Ireland)
V.18 defeated Keith Myatt and Lionheart, (06/20/08, Doncaster, U.K.)
V.19 (title for title) defeated NWA Champion Adam Pearce, Jawbreaker Lariat (06/27/08, Dayton, OH)
*match later reversed via DQ, both men keep their respective titles.
V.20 defeated Kevin Steen, Lariat off Turbuckle, (07/25/08, Toronto, ONT, CN)
V.21 defeated Claudio Castagnoli, Jawbreaker Lariat (07/26/08, Detroit, MI)
V.22 defeated Ruckus, London Dungeon (08/01/08, Manassas, VA)
V.23 Four Way Elimination Match: defeated Bryan Danielson, Tyler Black & Claudio Castagnoli (08/02/08, Manhattan, NY)
V.24 defeated El Generico, London Dungeon (08/15/08, Cleveland, OH )
V.25 defeated Jimmy Jacobs, Jawbreaker Lariat (09/14/08, Tokyo, Japan)
V.26 defeated Roderick Strong, (09/19/08, Boston, MA)
V.27 defeated El Generico, roll up, (09/20/08, Philadelphia, PA)
V.28 Four Way Elimination Match: defeated Go Shiozaki, El Generico & Kevin Steen (11/07/08, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
V.29 lost via disqualification to Necro Butcher (11/08/08, Markham, Ontario, Canada) Champion retains on a DQ.
V.30 defeated Bryan Danielson, Jawbreaker Lariat (11/22/08, Chicago Ridge, IL)
V. 31 defeated Jerry Lynn, pin using ropes (12/06/08, Nashville, TN)
V.32 defeated Naomichi Marufuji (12/27/08, Manhattan, NY)
V.33 fought to a time limit draw vs. vs. Tyler Black (01/17/09, Edison, New Jersey)
V. 34 defeated El Generico, London Dungeon (01/31/09 Chicago Ridge, Illinois)
V.35 defeated D-Lo Brown, Jawbreaker Lariat (02/07/09, Orlando, Florida)
V.36 Four Way Elimination Match: defeated Tyler Black, Jimmy Jacobs &Jerry Lynn (02/27/09, Danbury, CT)
V.37 defeated Kaio (03/08/09, Milan, Italy) *thanks to the column readers for the update on this defense.
V.38 lost via disqualification to Brent Albright (03/13/09, Collinsville, IL) Champion retains on a DQ.
V.39 defeated KENTA, submission with London Dungeon extension (03/21/09, Manhattan, NY)

**

ROH World Tag Team Champions—American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) (champions since 04/10/09, NEW CHAMPIONS)

–defeated Kevin Steen & El Generico on April 10th, 2009 in a Tables are Legal match in Philadelphia, PA to win the championship. The match will air on May 30th, 2009.

Next Defense: vs. Bryan Danielson & Tyler Black, 04/18/09 in Markham, ONT, Canada

Kevin Steen & El Generico: Final List of Defenses

V.1 defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe (11/08/08, Markham, Ontario, Canada)
V.2 defeated Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious (11/21/08. Dayton, OH)
V.3 defeated Jay & Mark Briscoe (11/22/08, Chicago Ridge, IL)
V.4 defeated Jimmy Jacobs & Delirious (12/27/08, Manhattan, NY)
V.5 defeated American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) (01/30/09, Detroit, MI)
V.6 defeated Kenny King & Rhett Titus (03/14/09, Indianapolis, Indiana)
V.7 defeated American Wolves (Davey Richards & Eddie Edwards) (03/21/09, New York, NY)

**

Top Feuds & Pairings:

-Jerry Lynn as the new ROH World Champion
-Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs
-Tyler Black has a title shot “in his back pocket”
-Claudio Castagnoli vs. Brent Albright
-Prince Nana & The Embassy vs. Bryan Danielson & Colt Cabana
Daizee Haze & Delirious in a trail of revenge against The Age of the Fall

ROH Home Theatre Station

ROH Videowire: April 8th, 2009

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1 &2. Undertaker & Shawn Michaels: Lost amid all of the discussion of was this match four stars or four and three-quarter stars or even five stars is that once again these two went out and performed above and beyond the already high expectations placed on them.
3. Ricky Steamboat: As Rowdy Roddy Piper said a few weeks ago, “Old School is Cool.” Steamboat proved it this week. His flying crossbody is still a beautiful move to behold. Although I have to remind everyone that he did it here in ROH first back in 2004 with CM Punk!
4. Chris Hero: I’m loving his promo work on the Videowires and his explanation of the feud with Eddie Kingston will go a long way for newbies who haven’t experienced it yet.
5. Roderick Strong: Having a rave review of a match against Katsuhiko Nakajima is one thing, and chopping EdinSanAntonio is another!

The Black T-Shirt Squad: Spring Fashion 2009 = Week Two =

Lo and behold but ROH has released, MORE T-SHIRTS! More merchandise for public consumption…but are clothes ready for public exhibition? You know what that means…another installment of The Black T-Shirt club! Cue the runway music!

Nigel McGuinness—The English Finger

Description: An awesome take on one of the more famous rock concert posters, complete with the audience in shadow form, the sky in striped patterns and Nigel giving the old double finger “hello” to the crowd.

Hip: ROH has done several take offs of famous T-shirts or paintings (Nigel’s “Made in England” and Guinness take off being a few of them) and this one continues the trend of borrowing from pop culture and doing it well. It’s a simple shirt in that it’s just one logo and nothing on the back, but sometimes the best shirts are the ones that keep it simple.

Zip: Although, once again, ROH has made it difficult for the wearer of their merchandise to exist in public without the threat of being accosted by random members of the offended public. If skulls or guns or racist flags aren’t enough, now ROH fans wearing this shirt CANNOT and SHOULD NOT travel to England and the UK. Unless you want to be heckled and / or mugged and / or beaten the piss out of by rapscallions, ragamuffins and hooligans! You are giving the equivalent of the middle finger to anyone who looks at your shirt, so be forewarned or you’ll have no one else to blame but yourself.

Wear or Tear?: Nigel always ends up with some great shirts and this one is no different, but you are taking your safety into your own hands. Maybe just wear it at home.

Grade: B

ROH Breaks the TV

Description: Don’t worry about the static signals…there’s nothing wrong with your television, it’s just ROH breaking on through to the other side…although this shirt is available only in limited quantities. You can only wear this shirt if you are HD-ready.

Hip: The front logo is inspired from the Take No Prisoners 2008 PPV logo, using the scrambled and distorted ROH logo surprisingly well.

Zip: What do you mean by “Wrestling’s ‘Real’ Alternative”? Is there some sort of “fake” alternative out there claiming to be ROH? Isn’t it like saying the phrase “Vegan Bacon”?

Wear or Tear?: If you want to be Mike TV and wear this shirt go ahead, just don’t be surprised if some random stranger comes up to tweak your knobs in order to get better reception on your shirt. Then again, maybe you like that sort of thing…

Grade: B-

Delirious—Shadows Over Hell

Description: Released just not in time for Halloween comes another disturbing-shirt of Delirious! In this case it appears he is melting, or mutating perhaps having discovered “the secret of the ooze”. Meanwhile on the back you have the now-traditional Delirious insignia, which I hear works along the same lines as a Green Lantern ring.

Hip: ROH has discovered what all great comic book artists have long since known—”no eyeballs” is greater than some eyeballs.

Zip: If its Zombie Delirious, then we’re all in trouble.

Wear or Tear?: Eh, sure, why not? Delirious and goth fans love this sort of stuff.

Grade: C

American Wolves—The Hunt is On

Description: Celebrate the hunting party by becoming one of the pack and wearing the first and newest American Wolves T-shirt.

Hip: The “no eyeballs” look continues, this time on the wolf. Very cool fonts and designs on both the front and the back of the shirt, very feral and “wolf-like”, that’s for sure. AND if you haven’t noticed, the “American” part of the name is represented with the red, white and blue color scheme. How patriotic!

Zip: There are no skulls in this shirt—it would have been better had there been skulls on them.

Wear or Tear?: Hey, they are the NEW ROH World Tag Team Champions, might as well jump on the bandwagon while you still can.

Grade: B-

So it looks like this time around we get some real winners, with T-shirts of the non-skull and non-gun variety. The ROH shirt is the pick of the litter here, but each shirt has its own merits. Thus ROH closes Spring Fashion in style!

Honorarium

-I hope that the ASPCA is keeping a close eye on Mike Hogewood. His recent calls of “Slap the Porpoise!” on ROH TV on HDNet has led me to believe that he supports animal abuse and animal cruelty. FOR SHAME MIKE HOGEWOOD. You are a hog of a man indeed.

-Batista returned to WWE and looks as jacked as ever. If you see a picture of him, just look at those traps—he looks like a freaking turtle! Just don’t let Mike Hogewood get near him, as the Hog might want to slap him…and then that would be trouble…

-It’s a great thing that KENTA is going to continue to be involved in ROH the rest of the year, including making the next television tapings in late May. ROH needs a heavy hitter like him involved near the top of the card to continue to mix things up.

Seven Years of ROH: Defining Moments of 2008

Every week for the next month I’ll be presenting some of the most memorable and important moments throughout the past seven years of Ring of Honor history. This isn’t meant to be a ranked order, nor can it possibly contain every great moment that happened throughout that year. However, when you think about Ring of Honor for that year, these events certainly come to mind.

Therefore, in no particular order:

1. Nigel McGuinness blasts the referee at Seventh Anniversary Show: This was the moment that defined Nigel’s heel turn, when he blasted Paul Turner out of desperation in order to be disqualified in the title match against Bryan Danielson. McGuinness’s earlier promo set the tone, but he still had a few fans cheering him on…until he took the coward’s way out of that match, which universally pissed everyone off. McGuinness set about the coward’s way for much of the next seventeen months of his title run.

2. Steen & Generico win the ROH World Tag Team Titles: They had been scratching and clawing for almost two years to get to the top of the tag division and finally, at Driven 2008 they did exactly that with a glorious win against The Age of the Fall. The joyous post-match victory celebration with the crowd helped elevate this to an incredibly memorable moment in ROH history.

3. Austin Aries and Jimmy Jacobs battle on: It was “the” blood feud of the year—getting very personal, very quickly. Aries stole Jacobs’ girl Lacey and was determined to bring down The Age of the Fall and Jacobs with it. Jacobs struck back by taking out Lacey in an attack outside her gym. Aries saw red, and well, both men shed plenty of it by the end of the feud. Both men concluded their issue with a best two of three series, which saw Aries win a dog collar and chain match and then the I Quit match, thanks to the shocking return of Lacey.

4. Necro Butcher frees himself from The Fall: Aries was determined to show Necro Butcher and the rest of ROH the hypocrisy that defined Jacobs’ life. Necro Butcher thought that Jacobs was his friend, but Aries claimed that he was just being used. More and more Necro began to get upset at his treatment and being pushed around by Jacobs, until finally he had enough and blasted Jacobs in a three way match with Aries in New York City. Unfortunately, while Necro did see the light and rebelled against The Age of the Fall, Austin Aries would soon be consumed by the darkness, corrupted by thje endless war against Jacobs and his men.

5. Davey Richards sells out to Sweet & Sour Inc.: The No Remorse Corps were hardly fan favorites, but they were like a band of brothers. They flexed their might and muscle throughout much of 2007 and early 2008. However, Larry Sweeney began to make overtures to NRC team leader Roderick Strong. Sweeney wanted a buy out or merger, but Strong felt that he, Rocky Romero and Davey Richards were doing just fine on their own. Richards however, wasn’t so sure…he was the constant butt of jokes and little slights from Strong and Romero, even though Richards carried his end of the NRC team and was successful as an ROH World Tag Team Champion. Richards took Sweeney’s business card and kept it without telling the others, and eventually decided that Sweeney’s price was indeed right. After a last minute effort to get Strong to agree to the Sweet & Sour Inc. offer, Richards took off his NRC shirt to reveal a Sweet & Sour shirt and beat up on his former partner and now enemy in Strong.

6. Tyler Black breaks out at Take No Prisoners 2008: The match versus Nigel McGuinness for the ROH World Title was hyped as the biggest moment in Tyler Black’s career, and so it was. Black won over the notoriously difficult Philadelphia fan base that night with his performance and soon was winning everyone else over with that fantastic performance.

7. Bryan Danielson Defeats Takeshi Morishima: Danielson had waited one year to get his hands on Japanese rival Takeshi Morishima once again. He needed a clear cut victory against Morishima in order to prove the previous four matches against him weren’t for nothing. The defining moment of Final Battle 2008 came when Danielson played it smart and jumped Morishima while “The Final Countdown” entrance music played, culminating in his springboard dive from the ring through to the crowd. Danielson and Morishima fought back and forth in a vicious war of fists, feet and steel chain, and ultimately Danielson proved to be the winner.

Also in 2008: The No Remorse Corps unseated The Age of the Fall in an Ultimate Endurance tag match to win the ROH World Tag Team Titles; The Age of the Fall would battle off and on with The Briscoes and The Vulture Squad; The Human Tornado made a brief pit stop in ROH before an injury took his out of wrestling for most of the rest of the year; Nigel McGuinness went on a massive win streak on ROH PPV, taking out Tyler Black, Go Shiozaki, Claudio Castagnoli and Bryan Danielson; ROH defeated Dragon Gate wrestlers in the latest of the two companies series of battles; Kevin Steen won a tournament for a title shot, he would later go on to battle McGuinness in several marquee matches; Lance Storm would return for several shows and support the ROH wrestlers against Sweet & Sour Inc.; ROH taped two shows in Dover, NJ while Darren Aronofsky filmed the climatic sequence of his movie “The Wrestler”; Brent Albright won the NWA Heavyweight Title by defeating Adam Pearce in a fantastic match at Death Before Dishonor VI; The Motor City Machine Guns, Samoa Joe and Homicide (along with Hernandez) would return to ROH on separate occasions for special attraction bouts; Chris Hero became “That Young Knock Out Kid” and focused on hurting people with concussive elbow strikes; ROH returned to Japan for two shows, highlighted by KENTA and Katsuhiko Nakajima tearing down the house against Naomichi Marufuji and Kota Ibushi (who had previously had a successful four show stint in America for ROH); Jerry Lynn returned to ROH and emerged as a serious contender to McGuinness’s world title; Claudio Castagnoli unexpectedly turned heel by attacking Bryan Danielson from behind at the four way elimination match from Death Before Dishonor VI; Austin Aries and Lacey revealed they had begun a relationship with each other, which tore Jimmy Jacobs apart; Aries would turn on the fans and on Tyler Black at Final Battle 2008 because he was jealous of the attention Black was receiving from the fans; Kensuke Sasaki would debut for ROH on American soil; Nigel McGuinness defeated Naomichi Marufuji in Manhattan to close the year and guarantee he took second place in the longevity record as ROH World Champion.

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Going Home

Get With the pROHgram:

Tonight: ROH on HDNet main events with Jerry Lynn vs. Brodie Lee

April 17th, 2009: “Caged Collision” debuts on Pay Per View, with Steel Cage Warfare between Team Albright and Sweet & Sour Incorporated as the main event and Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black vs. Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs for a chance to earn a future ROH World Title shot on the line.

April 25th, 2009: ROH on HDNet main events with Bryan Danielson vs. Tyler Black

April 25th, 2009: ROH returns to Chicago Ridge, Illinois for “The Homecoming II” and Colt Cabana’s return to CHICAGO-BAYHBEH!

ROH@411

ROH on HDNet Episode 3 coverage on 411 is provided by Larry Csonka via his Play by Play and his Wrestling 4R’s. Meanwhile J.D. Dunn makes fun of the porpoise comments and has high praise for Danielson vs. Aries in his ROHport.

Jeffrey Harris ups the ROH coverage here with an Interview with Claudio Castagnoli, Supercard of Honor IV Live Report (including a photo of the “Cake of Honor”) and Take No Prisoners Live Report.

Chris Lansdell’s yearly Wrestlemania tradition involves video games and watching lots of wrestling, including TNA and ROH.

J.D. Dunn managed to slip in his review of Final Battle 2008 on DVD just after I left for Florida.

Kevin Ford gives his live thoughts from CHIKARA’s King of Trios 2009 Tournament in his Contemplating CHIKARA column.

This week’s 411 Buy or Sell covers PWG and ROH issues (see below).

Buy or Sell Quickies

Every week I’ll look at the Ring of Honor related 411 BoS questions and if I’m not participating give my own spin on the topic, in three sentences or less:

Eddie Kingston’s second ever Ring of Honor match should not be wasted on television: SELL. What the hell does “wasted” mean? In what context? Kingston on any form of ROH programming is better than none, which is the way it has been before.

The American Wolves will become RoH Tag team Champions during the next television tapings: N/A considering this match was already taped just last night.

Ring of Honor does not need Ric Flair appearing on their television broadcasts: BUY. I love Flair appearing for ROH, but if you think about it, an appearance by Flair would need to be advertised and hyped to up whatever “ratings” ROH gets on HD Net. I don’t think a major name appearing for ROH on ROH TV at this point means much of anything or will have any impact—it’s the advertisement of appearance for live shows and selling those shows on DVD that ROH really needs to focus on to up the profit level of Flair’s role in the company.

Jerry Lynn as champ is a step in the wrong direction for RoH: Sell. Obviously you all know my feelings about this by now.

With some of their old talent coming back to the fold, RoH’s roster is as strong as it’s ever been: SELL. The term “as it’s ever been” is the key point. ROH was strongest back in 2005 with what is now in hindsight an all-star caliber roster. I will say that presuming Danielson sticks around (even without a contract) and McGuinness comes back after rehabbing from injury, the current ROH roster IS the strongest it has been since that period and if they are able to add Paul London and one other major name then we may be talking 2005 levels of roster strength.

That will do it for now—back next week with more news, results and analysis from the world of ROH!

BROOKLYN!

Dedicated to Ruth Green, a sweet lady who proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Old School was cool. You will be missed.

–Ari–